Hey Dave,
Good pics. On the Creole males, the forewing shape is distinctive. Not quite
falcated but close. Look at the antennae clubs. On the Creoles, the tip of the
clubs are black, not completely orange. Also, the way the ventral forewing
spots are encircled is different. And, as you noted, all Creoles I have seen
have 5 eyespots.
Craig M
Sent from Samsung tablet
-------- Original message --------
From: Dave Patton <davepatton122@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: 08/17/2015 7:49 PM (GMT-06:00)
To: LA Leps <louisianaleps@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [louisianaleps] Creole Pearly-eyes, Tickfaw State Park
La Leps
I have been wanting to find Creole Pearly-eyes for a long time and Craig Marks
has been telling me to go to Tickfaw State Park. So Saturday afternoon , I was
in that area and paid a visit to the park. I found the trail Craig described
and hiked until finding cane. I searched from 1:30 to 5:30 and found lots of
Pearly-eyes. Many sat for a photo and time to study them for field marks. I had
one mid afternoon and a couple at the very end that looked good, but the
fieldmarks all seemed to be a bit confusing. Especially the orange antenna
clubs. The one field mark I did not realize until getting home and looking
through field guides was the number of spots on the underside of the forwing.
Creole have 5 and Southern have 4. Looking through reference photos, I also
realized they are different size in relation to each other. Using this, it
looks like I had 3 good Creoles and the difference jumps out at you when
looking at the forwing spots. Below is the afternoon list and a link to a web
site with some photos of the Creoles and Southerns.
http://www.pbase.com/pattonpix/pearly_eyes
Dave Patton
Lafayette
Tickfaw State Park, Livingston Parish
August 15, 2015, 1:30 to 5:30 PM
90 degrees +, calm
Pipevine ST - 2
Little Yellow - 1
Red Admiral - 2
Pearl Crescent - 1
Monarch - 4 (copulating)
Southern Pearly-eye - 27
Creole Pearly-eye - 3
Pearly-eye sp - 7
Carolina Satyr - 9
Silver spotted Skipper - 2
Com/Wht Checkered Sk - 5
Trop Ch Sk - 3
Clouded Sk - 3
Least Sk - 1
Delaware Sk - 4
